Comment on Whose Poems Sewed You Shut

  1. maranhig Fri 25 Mar 2016 01:48PM UTC

    renard & pfenix

    god. GOD.
    there are AU fics that just seem so improbable and strange up until you actually read them and get so LOST in that world it practically stitches itself into your headcanon from how good and plausible and awe-inspiring it is. this is definitely one of them.
    i adore the smut, but also what you did to build up and characterize and develop everything. we get to see maria, lisa, and junior be fleshed out people and not just a plot device for frank. and how they just integrate themselves back into frank's life and take none of matt's good ole Catholic Guilt, just seamlessly integrating him into the fam, oh my good god. i'm rocking myself back and forth from the lisa being a 'VESSEL OF HOLY FIRE' scene. i weep.
    bless you for giving me what i never thought i'd need, but will definitely return to again and again~

    EFIT: "He can feel the faint ripples of stretch marks under his cheek, like a note dashed off long ago in some cramped angelic script, at the crux of the aesculapian and the cartographic, life was kindled here." THESE LINES KILL ME SO MUCH, i had to go back and point it out in big flashing neon that i love this. and this whole story in general. oh dear.

    Last Edited Fri 25 Mar 2016 01:52PM UTC

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    1. vibishan Fri 25 Mar 2016 04:58PM UTC

      THANK YOU! Improbably AUs taken seriously are pretty much my favorite thing ever, so I'm so pleased I pulled that off. Hauling characters out of the fridge is my OTHER favorite thing. The more I thought about who these people could have been, the more I loved them; I really wanted them to come across as people and not 'standard beloved wife/cute cartoon kids/OCs-turned-sues' so YAY YOU LIKED THEM.

      There was definitely a scene that just didn't make it into the final cut about the difference between potato catholics (Germans, Poles, Irish) who drink a lot but are otherwise straight-laced and sad, and tomato catholics (italians, spaniards, french) who drink good wine and eat to excess and have lots of sex and go to confession later because that's what it's for, relax, have another canoli. YOU'RE SUCH A POTATO CATHOLIC, MATT, YOU WORRY TOO MUCH. (Matt: ...bzuh?)

      MEANWHILE YES, MATT IS GETTING INTEGRATED INTO THE FINALLY FROM THE VERY BEGINNING AND TOTALLY REFUSES TO NOTICE, THAT GOOBER. When I wrote the line about Matt hugging her while she was dealing with harassment before Frank is even back in the picture, I knew how it was going to work out, because he really does *fit* - they're people who work hard at supporting and being good *to* each other, and that's what makes them a family.

      LISA CASTLE FOR QUEEN OF THE UNIVERSE. I WEEP WITH YOU.

      anyway THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS LOVELY COMMENT, it means so much to me!

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      1. tryptophan Sat 26 Mar 2016 02:38AM UTC

        Please please please post the potato/tomato (never heard of it referred to as that, but I love it!) exchange as an outtake!

        Very well written. I usually don't enjoy non-canonical romantic pairings, but rarely, they are done well and loves, as yours is.

        What issue was the lil' Frank poetry pic from?

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        1. vibishan Sat 26 Mar 2016 03:21AM UTC

          Alas, it was deleted in frustration when I realized it wasn't working with the scene, I don't know if I could recreate it.

          I'm glad you enjoyed it! The babby Frank panel is from Garth Ennis's 2006 one-shot "Punisher: The Tyger" which I highly recommend. It's a great portrait of Frank-as-a-person long before the traumas of his family and the war, who isn't defined by them, but that still lets you see why THIS is the guy, out of everyone who experiences loss and violence, who ended up becoming what he does.

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          1. tryptophan Sat 26 Mar 2016 03:58AM UTC

            Given you referenced Blake in the story, and give the name of the oneshot, I think I can guess where he went with the story, and if I come across it I'll definitely pick it up.

            Out of curiosity, where'd you hear the potato/tomato Catholic thing? My family's all Catholic (French Canadian, but lived in German Catholic territory, so some blend of both, I suppose), and I've never heard that, but it's SO perfect.

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            1. vibishan Sat 26 Mar 2016 04:11AM UTC

              What a crazy coincidence! I'm French Canadian/German Catholic on one side, and Italian/Polish on the other, so I've always been pretty amused by the divide too. I actually heard it from a Very Lapsed Irish Catholic professor married to an Italian, iirc - she was actually a religious studies professor and had a great sense of humor about everything.

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              1. tryptophan Sat 26 Mar 2016 06:06AM UTC

                Heh, I married into a Polish Catholic family :)

                Just read your other Frank Castle fic. I really like your insight into the character, especially making pseudo redemption fics without completely defanging him.

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                1. vibishan Sat 26 Mar 2016 12:02PM UTC

                  Thanks! I'm not interested in redemption proper so much as 'letting frank be fucking happy damnit' which tends to involve, you know, some human connections and things to do that aren't killing, but also still SOME murder. Because that's who he is.

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